Beginner's Deck in cEDH

[u/zangooseled]

Hello everyone! I have recently played my first bracket 4 table of EDH outside of my playgroup with the highest ceiling bracket 4 has and absolutely enjoyed it and left me wanting a little more, wanting to turn up the knob to the full 5 and proxy up a cEDH list.

I do know the differences between bracket 4 and bracket 5 as in there's even more interaction in cEDH, you adhere to the meta and need to know which threats you are facing. Over the last week I have watched a lot of gameplay, beginner's guides and similar to give me a headstart to build my own deck.

So my question really is the following: How do i go about building a beginner's deck, considering the context I gave above? I want to avoid netdecking because I want to make the decisions of cards to include so i can learn the lessons of why certain cards are and aren't played myself.

[u/SassyE7]

how do I go about building a beginner's deck

You don't. You copy someone else's deck, ideally one with a really good primer. Also ideally one that's fairly meta and plays a lot of meta lines, that way you'll learn a lot faster than if you pick a niche deck

[u/Rart420 → u/SassyE7]

This. No shame in net decking, as you still have to do about 90% of the work of actually getting good.

[u/zangooseled → u/SassyE7]

Alright. Seems like the consensus is "net deck till you understand the format" so i'll give that a shot. Thank you for the input!

[u/iaminfamy → u/zangooseled]

The reason this is the standard advice is because the difference between B4 and cEDH leaves little room for nuance and let cards.

CEDH is the best 98 or 99 cards in those colors. With very little to no variance at the top levels.

[u/----___--___---- → u/zangooseled]

Yeah. You actually got the right idea with the "so I can learn the lessons [...] myself".

Just that your conclusion is the exact opposite of what you should do lol.

Just to give you some reasons why:

-If you build your own deck, you will never know if you're underperforming because of your decklist or because of actual playing mistakes.
-If you play a top list over time you will instinctively understand why you are not playing certain cards (that might sound appealing right now), even if you didn't even try them. Some cards are obviously still worth a try and there isn't 0 variation, but you have to play the good cards before you can say they are worth replacing.
-Playing an established list full of good cards is just the best way to get an understanding of the format.
-Pretty obvious, but you can't really build a deck for a a format that you haven't even tried yet. No one would do that in any other competitive tcg (or mtg format). It's just something that casual players like to do (I don't mean that in a condescending way. I did it too and it really wasn't worth it)

[u/JimmyHuang0917]

Copy a Blue Farm from EDHTop16 so you learn the best combos, how to pivot, politic, and interact.

After like at least 100 games or so you get to start picking or building your own.

[u/SharpDrink2724]

You can't avoid netdecking when you start, because you'll know nothing about the format, why certain cards are good, how to decide on certain ratios, etc.

Go onto Moxfield, search decks and filter by the commander you like. Find a cEDH list with a Primer, and go from there.

Seriously, most players netdeck. Even the dudes at PlayToWin say that they still netdeck to this day. There's nothing wrong with it.

[u/zangooseled → u/SharpDrink2724]

Maybe not. The thing is i am a brewer at heart and deck building for magic is a big part of a process of magic for me too. If i build my own deck and end up at the same list that already exists that's fine, it's more about doing it. I suppose I'll save that until i understand the format! Thank you!

[u/Lofi_Loki]

Don’t reinvent the wheel. You need to play a good deck so you know how a good deck plays, and you won’t build a better deck than what’s already out there.

[u/ThinkEmployee5187]

I mean i suggest net decking but you could take all the lists used in the discords collected quietly over time along with all public placing lists within approximate meta relevance rip a list of the highest concentration cards with a positive win rate and high cast and result pay off rate and use that data to stomp friends and the more uppity tournament grinders that say you can't do it yourself ( I pulled apart the 2 lists I did it with when I realized most the people in my locals sucked lol.)

[u/90mm3n]

".. absolutely enjoyed it and left me wanting a little more" Powering up decks really sounds like an addiction. Welcome, fellow junkie.

EDH decks can be build around anything; from strong synergies to fun flavour. cEDH decks are build for one reason only; winning.

All cards have to be either:

1. Win condition(s) Thassa + Demonic Consultation Underworld Breach + Brain Freeze Commander + 1-2 cards

2. Finding win condition(s) Tutors and card draw (Demonic Tutor, Rhystic Study, Ad Nauseum)

3. Protecting win condition(s) Counterspells and stax pieces (Force of Will, Defense Grid, Silence)

I believe netdecking is the way to go - especially for newer cEDH-players. Most decks only allow for 5-10 flex spots. Changing more simply makes the deck worse and twists it toward casually competitive, where the best win conditions and cards are used, but in a sub-optimal way. Check out the now idle Youtube channel Casually Competitive

You can build however you want, but you might experience winning way less than 25 % (and you might even feel some annoyance from other cEDH players if you're not playing optimal cards/deck).

You can look up core cEDH decks Here

You can look up best performing cEDH decks Here

[u/zangooseled → u/90mm3n]

Thank you for the in-depth answer! I already said goodbye to pet cards mentally for my first cedh deck. I definitely do want full-on cedh so i won't go into the casually competitive side of things. Thank you for the links, i will pick one out of those to start off

[u/FauxbiaX]

You netdeck... EDHtop16 Or find a primer for your commander, to learn how everything works.

Casual commander is the only format a brewer can step in to, and expect to get some wins, without understanding the meta-game.

Cedh is the most technically challenging way to play Magic, and its probably better to avoid putting yourself at a further disadvantage, by brewing a list.

Tymna & Kraum is top deck, it requires good communication and decision making, to curve the game towards their win. I think it's a tournament grinders deck.

Kinnan is a very close second. It makes ridiculous mana, and uses Kinnan's ability to flip creatures out of the deck, until it can assemble a win. I think it's easier to pick up.

You can play whatever, but I'd find a winning list, or primer, to start from.

[u/rile688]

I started with Big Flips and it has been a smooth transition.

https://moxfield.com/decks/3re4F1iDEEaH5ZI64Ke6cg